Well, I Guess This Is Growing Up
by thnkxfrthmmrs
Summary: People grow up in different ways, that's for sure. Another thing that's certain? That high school plays a big part in fucking kids over. You're supposed to be a teenager, live a little, discover yourself, find love, lose love and mess up. Follow Percy and co. on the journey of high school-and what it means to 'grow up'. AU. T plus. Part One: Freshman Year.


Chapter One: Paying in Naivety

* * *

_We're searching__  
__For something__  
__Just trying__  
__To make it happen__  
__We listen__  
__To no one__  
__Don't forget we won't forgive__  
__They'll write a story of the lives we lived_

* * *

The raven-haired teen smiled gently up at his mom as he handed her his apron. "I'll see you later mom, I gotta run." His mother looked puzzled for a moment before her eyes widened and her mouth popped open a little.

"Oh! It's your first day of high school, huh?" The pride in her voice was loud enough for any of the customers around to hear. Her son gave her a charming smile. "Well, have fun, Percy!" He nodded and ducked out of the little candy shop, his backpack strapped to his shoulders and skateboard in hand.

"Bye, ma!"

* * *

"Percy!" A voice called from up ahead. Percy looked up to see his best friend since the 6th grade, Grover, running towards him. He smiled up at him brightly.

"Hey dude, what's up?" Percy stopped his board and pulled one of his ear buds out. Grover stopped in front of him and the two exchanged a fist bump and then a quick one-armed hug.

"You losers look gay." The two friends turned to see their other friend Nico, standing there smirking at them with dark hair hanging in his eyes. Percy flipped him off while Grover chuckled.

"Whatever dude." Percy snapped playfully. "How was LA?" Nico flashed them both one of his rare smiles.

"It was a lot better than I thought it would be. My dad's wife is a total bitch, but it was amazing to see Bianca again, man." Grover grinned.

"That's great to hear, Nico." Grover then gave his two friends a proud smile. "Guess what?" Percy and Nico shared an amused look.

"What, Goat Boy?"

Grover ignored the jab and thrust his chin out for them to see. "_I _have facial hair." The two other boys chuckled but leaned closer to inspect their friend's supposed facial hair. Sure enough there were a few wisps of curly hair growing from his chin. Percy gave him a devious smile.

"I dunno, G-Man. I don't see anything…" He nudged Nico and the smaller boy gave him a dark look before shrugged.

"Yeah, Grover, I might agree with Perce on this one. I don't see anything—"

"You both are filthy liars and you both know it!" Grover cried indignantly while pointing an accusing finger at his two friends. Percy and Nico shared a quick laugh.

"For once Grover Underwood has said something intelligent." The three boys turned to see Ms. Annabeth Chase glaring at them with her hand on her hip and books in the other. Percy groaned.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be, Chase?" She gave him a tart look that would make any other person shrink away in fear, however Percy had been on the receiving end of those looks for years now and they didn't have the same effect they used to. It only served in pissing Annabeth off even more.

"You're right, for once," she added snidely. Percy and his friends rolled his eyes. "I have better things to be doing than wasting my time with social outcasts like yourselves." And with that, the blonde turned on her heel and headed toward the brick building, her nose in the air.

"The fuck is wrong with that chick?" Nico asked as he and his friends made their way after Annabeth slowly. Percy snorted,

"Hell if I know. She's hated me since she laid eyes on me." Grover bleated nervously.

"She doesn't like _anyone_ though." Nico and Percy started to snicker.

"Except for _Luke Castellan_!" They chorused. "Her one true love! That will never be returned!" Percy called dramatically.

"Forever doomed to die alone! Like Luke would ever like her!" Nico yelled after the small blonde. Annabeth turned and gave the three a chilling glare before stomping into the building. The boys howled with laughter as they trailed after.

* * *

"The three of you looked like a bunch of dumbasses calling after Chase this morning." Thalia Grace told the boys at their lunch table. "The poor girl looked absolutely humiliated." The sympathy in her voice quickly turned icy. "Don't do it without me next time." She glared at her best friends. "_OK?_" The three boys saluted to their punk friend and she rolled her charcoal lined eyes.

The best thing about lunch with Thalia Grace was that she always brought fresh pizza. Seeing as her family is super rich and she detests the school lunches, she orders to have pizza delivered every lunch, sometimes cheese burgers. The three boys leaned over and snagged a few pieces from the box.

"Thanks, Thals." Percy mumbled through a mouth full of food. Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Close your mouth, dipshit."

"I agree!" Annabeth's perky voice called over from her table with Luke Castellan and a few of his football buddies. "The world would be a much better place if Percy kept his mouth shut forever!" Luke and his friends laughed a little. Thalia was quick to retaliate, turning around to glare at the blonde.

"Go fuck yourself, Chase. We're not talking to you!" Annabeth looked miffed and turned around with a small cry of indignation. The cafeteria had gone quiet at Thalia's outburst but they quickly went back to their own business when Thalia glared around the room.

The three boys snickered before going back to their pizza. Thalia watched curiously as Grover sniffed at his pizza before eating it hesitantly. She was going to ask him about it later.

"Oh!" Thalia said getting Percy's attention. "I checked out that band, Basement, and _dude_, they rock!" She gushed. Percy's face lit up, but he heeded Thalia's warning and swallowed first.

"I know right! If they play a show or two in town we've got to go see them!" Thalia nodded enthusiastically and the two friends continued their discussion of bands and music. Grover and Nico shared an amused look.

* * *

Percy glowered when he realized that he had both Annabeth and Luke in his history class this year. Fortunately Thalia was sitting in the back on her own so he wandered over there to sit by his punk best friend.

Annabeth leaned back with a malicious grin on her face. "Percy and Thalia kissing in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" She blew them a kiss before she started to laugh. Bot Thalia and Percy shared an annoyed look. Thalia snarled and leaned over and grabbed Annabeth's ponytail making said girl yelp. Thalia yanked her back,

"At least, if that were the case, we'd be kissing and not fingering ourselves over pictures of Luke Castellan in the late night." Annabeth's face colored brightly and she shot Luke a scared look, but he didn't seem to have heard Thalia's comment. Percy however was barely able to smother his laughter behind his hands. The grey-eyed girl turned on Percy and glared at him before turning away from the two black-haired teens behind her.

It was gonna be a long year.

* * *

Silena Beauregard watched with mild interest as that tough punk-looking girl and her cute friend in the beanie fought with that stuck up Chase girl. Those three were going to be the source of a lot of trouble, she figured. She surveyed the others in the room. There was the cute Luke Castellan, two of his football buddies, Chris and Ethan, a sweet looking girl who was glaring angrily at a smiling boy next to her, a few nobodies with their noses in the books, and then there was a kid Silena hadn't seen before. He was cute, not Luke or the punk girl's friend cute, but cute nonetheless, with dark skin and a buzz cut. He was muscular for his age and he was sitting alone so Silena could only assume he was new in town. A pair of manicured fingers snapped in front of her. Silena jerked up to look at Drew who was looking at her in interest.

"What's got your attention?" Silena blushed a little,

"Oh, just Luke Castellan." She faked a giggle and twirled a lock of black hair between her fingers. Drew giggled and cast a look at the blonde.

"He's quite a piece of work, isn't he?" Silena smiled in agreement. Drew's dark eyes flickered to the punk girl's friend. "Who are they?" Silena shrugged, her eyes beginning to drift back to the cute new boy.

"The boy is cute." She commented offhandedly. Drew pursed her lipstick lips before nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, if you're into the alternative look he's sporting. He and that punk girl would be a cute match." Silena had to agree, they two of them suited each other, but they were the safe choice. Silena could see Annabeth and the boy together and as a much cuter couple, however no one liked Annabeth and she really doubted he did.

"I suppose so." Her eyes flickered back to the dark skinned boy as the teacher walked in, calling their attention.

* * *

"Katie-Kat! Wait up for us, babe!" Katie growled and bent her head lower, tucking her chin into her chest and sped up her pace. Travis freaking Stoll and his annoying (but sweet) younger brother were racing after her and she didn't need to deal with him any longer. "_Katie!"_

The small brunette girl pushed past the people on the sidewalks of the busy New York street, _just two more blocks, come on, just two more…_

"And here I would think you were trying to get away from us, Katie!" Travis panted, jogging up in front of her with that damned shit-eating grin plastered to his face. She huffed and cast a sympathetic look at the sweet 7 year old that was now next to her and out of breath.

"Jesus, Stoll, are you trying to kill your brother?" Katie scolded and reached down to ruffle his soft blonde hair. Conner's cheeks stained pink but he gave her a similar smile, only one of his front teeth was missing. Travis assessed the two with mild interest.

"I don't really understand why you like my brother more than me, Katie-Kat, I mean, I'm the good-looking one." He teased while Katie gave him a scathing look.

"Conner is adorable, something that you are not, and I doubt ever were." She smirked a little, deciding it was safe to throw around her own insults. "Your parents had to raise _one_ good kid, I guess." Travis threw a hand to his heart with fake hurt.

"I'm wounded you think so lowly of my parent's parenting skills." The brunette girl gave him a distained look.

"You're right, I guess I can't really blame your parents for the way you turned out." The trio had managed to walk all the way past the sketchy alleyway by Katie's apartments without her even knowing and they were now reaching the stairs to said apartment building. She masked her surprise easily. "I guess I sympathize with your parents actually. And poor Conner!"

Travis rolled his eyes, taking Conner's small hand. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, Gardener."

"All out of witty comebacks, are we Stoll?" Katie teased him as she climbed the steps. He rolled his eyes, trying and failing to hide his embarrassment.

"Shut up." Katie opened the door and let out a small laugh. Travis blinked and then let a smile spread over his face. He loved it when she laughed like that. He waved her a goodbye. "Catch ya later, Gardener!" She rolled her eyes.

"Just leave, Stoll."

* * *

"Heyya Beauty Queen!" Leo called over from his perch way up high in the bleachers. Piper looked up at her best friend and rolled her eyes.

"Leo! Are you skipping class? On the first day?" She scolded him. Leo blanched and quickly maneuvered down the bleacher's steel steps.

"Shush! Yell it why don't ya!" He mumbled as he landed before her feet. He was forced to be reminded of his lack of height. And Piper wasn't even that tall! He gave her a devil's grin. "Besides, the high school-ers do it all the time! I'm just practicing for next year you know!" Piper rolled her eyes.

"You're an idiot who watches too many MTV high school dramas." She scolded. Leo shrugged.

"Guilty." He paused. "Are you going to the high school football game on Friday?" Leo asked. He was always trying to get in with the older crowd and being social and the worst part was that he always tried to get Piper to be social with him. Piper feared that Leo's ability to be impressed easily would get him into trouble one of these days.

Piper gave him a look. "Since when have I ever been interested in football? Much less high school football?" Leo shrugged, seemingly unfazed.

"It's a social event! We've got to be out there or else we won't have any stories to tell our kids when we're old and wrinkly! You don't remember the nights you got plenty of sleep Piper!" He encouraged.

"You stole that from tumblr."

Leo gave her a look. "Re-Regardless! It's true!" Piper leaned over and messed up his hair.

"We've got another year until we go to high school, we can live it up then. Until now, I'm supposed to be running laps in PE and god knows where you're supposed to be." Leo dropped to the ground, his hands clasped together.

"Please! I'll go to class every day this year, with few important exceptions, if you go to a couple of football games with me this year!" Piper sighed.

"Fine, Valdez. But you better go to each of your classes, or I'll end you." The Cherokee girl narrowed her eyes. "Why do you want to go to a football game so bad, anyways?" Leo started to blush and stutter. Piper grinned.

"It's because of that Thalia girl right?" Leo's ears were bright red. Leo had an unrequited crush on a girl the year above them. A certain girl who would never be seen anywhere near Leo.

"Whatever, Repair Boy. Go to class."

* * *

Clarisse glared at the skinny boy in front of her and cracked her knuckles. The boy whimpered and tried to squirm away from her. Clarisse shot her hand forward and pinned the boy against the brick wall of the school. "Where ya think you're goin', punk?" She snarled. The kid looked ready to piss himself.

"Please, I need to get home…"

Clarisse laughed coldly. "Oh yeah, mama's boy? You gonna go home and _cry_ like the _pussy_ you are?" She shoved him harder into the bricks and the kid let out a cry. "Or are you gonna cry right now, you little bitch? Huh? Is that what you're gonna do? Cry for your mama?" Clarisse laughed and punched him in the stomach. Tears rolled down the kid's face as he crumbled from the plow. Clarisse let him collapse to the ground a vicious smirk in place.

The kid let out a small cry, blood trickled from his lip. Clarisse squashed down the small flicker of regret when she gazed at his broken form. She redeemed herself for her moment of weakness by giving him a swift kick to the gut. The boy cried out and Clarisse ignored his strangled cries as she walked away.

* * *

"L-Luke—I'm not ready for this—" Luke looked down at the pretty Asian in front of him with regret. Her doe-like eyes pleaded up at him, tears were collecting in her eyes. Luke dropped his hand from her breast and gave her an uncertain smile.

"It's ok, Drew. I understand. We'll wait." Drew looked up at him in relief and let out a shaky breath.

"Thank you so much!" She rushed out and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. The two slipped away from each other and put back on their clothes. Drew was still slightly shaky from the whole ordeal, for a moment there, it had almost seemed like Luke was going to—

"Do you know what you're doing for initiation for the football team?" Drew asked him to break the festering awkward silence. Luke gave her a fake smile, but she didn't seem to notice.

_Yeah, only to fuck some girl and break her heart._

"No, I don't know yet, but it's supposed to be a piece of cake." Drew gave him a genuine smile and placed a soft hand on his lower arm. Luke looked up at her and gave her another uncertain smile.

* * *

The blonde marched up the stairs to her small house. She bit her lip hard and tried to stop the tears from tumbling down. It was only the first day of school and it already hurt so much. When Annabeth entered her house her stepmother gave her a disdainful look and further more ignored her.

Annabeth continued on only to step on a Lego piece her little brothers had left lying around. _Great_, Annabeth felt like screaming. _Just, freaking, great. _Her stepmother eyed the toy,

"Clean up those toys, Annabeth. We don't need the boys or myself getting hurt." She left the small teenage girl to go make dinner for her husband. Annabeth glared at her retreated figure and bit back any sharp retort she could make. The blonde just tossed the piece to the side, hoping that Sue would step on it, and made her way to her room.

There the tears came freely.

* * *

"Ms. Dare? May I have a word?" Dr. Apollo asked as his freshman art class piled out. A few of the less mature students 'ooh-ed' at her but she brushed them aside. She stepped out of the way of her peers and walked over to where her teacher was, nervousness bubbling inside of her. Her eyes met the encouraging eyes of Percy and she blushed a little before turning her attention back to her teacher.

Dr. Apollo was easily the most handsome teacher in all of the New York school district, with a pearly white smile and short blonde hair. He flashed her a charming smile.

"I just wanted to let you know that I have seen some of your previous work." He began. "And so I expect a lot from you Ms. Dare. You're easily one of the most talented students at this school." He winked at her causing heat to flood the redhead's cheeks. "Don't disappoint."

Rachel shook her head. "I won't Dr. Apollo… And thank you." She smiled up at him shyly.

He gave her another blinding smile. "Of course."

* * *

**So this is chapter one, it's kind of an over view of the cast of characters we'll be dealing with heavily through out their four years of the dreaded high school. And god, can you tell how heavy this story is going to be? I've already got some things planned for MUCH later chapters and I'm so sorry to all of you who get invested in this story. I intend to cause much pain. Since I am partial to Percy and Annabeth, but even more so Percy, I fear he and his character development will take up much of the story, but do not fear, for all characters will get their share of angst and pairings and development. **

**My goal for this story is to get you guys to love each of the characters but hate them all at the same time. I'm going to write things as realistically as I can, so you know, not everyone gets a happy ending… Whoops. I also want you guys to relate to some of these characters and the struggles they'll go through, because high school is a bitch. And there's no easy way around it.**

**(And to clear up any confusion, Piper and Leo are in 8****th**** grade)**

**(Last side note: When Drew says Percy's sort of alternative I mean pop-punk. I didn't say it however because most people don't know what that looks like. I can't really explain it, but the closest is punk vs. skater but that's not quite right either. You can look it up, but I don't know how accurate that would be. You can check out my tumblr and I'll see if I can show you guys what I mean because my blog is pop punk because pop punk is fab. My tumblr is thnkxfrthmmrs)**

**xo**

**Emma**


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